A blogsite offering entertaining daily oddities since January 2020. There are now over fifteen hundred posts in these four years. Images -- photographic, computer-simulated and poetic -- are drawn from daily life as well as from poems and wordplay grouped by topic on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense". The poetry displayed is all original (as are the song-lyrics), although portions evolved through rigorous editing on a collaborative website.
February 13, 2023
Feb 13, homophonous verse: identity rhymes
February 12, 2023
FEB 12, poets' corner: subtle bullying, editorial
February 11, 2023
FEB 11, garden intruders: common moles
a) reprise from February, 2020
FEB 11, garden intruders: common (eastern) moles
February 10, 2023
FEB 10, a brief saga: Newfoundland potato famine of 1846 - 8
Back in Ireland, landlords took advantage, and bought tickets to encourage resourceless tenants to emigrate; their arrival in Canada was anticipated charitably by the public and by local governments, often despite low potential for contribution to the economy. But in fact, many refugees were sick ("ship's fever" often equated to dysentery or typhus) on arrival or shortly afterward; in the summer of 1847, an estimated 20,000 died in typhus epidemics that ravaged Montreal and Quebec, as well as settlements in New Brunswick and Ontario. The longer term effect on health and other services was devastating for these relatively small recipient towns.
historic plaque, dedicated to a community leader who perished in the potato-famine related typhus epidemic |
Online Sources:
Great Famine (Ireland) - Wikipedia
Newfoundland Potato Famine - Wikipedia
History of Irish immigration to Canada - Irish PostFebruary 9, 2023
FEB 9, exemplification: ablauts and verb past-tenses
Authors' Note: Ablaut (AHB-lowt) is a linguistic term, derived from German, for a vowel transition resulting in a change in word meaning. Such changes are the basis of the simple past tense and the past participle in a substantial proportion of irregular English verbs, as exemplified in the second verse.
To review our whole collection of "exemplary exemplifications", click HERE.
February 8, 2023
FEB 8, inspired by Ogden Nash: anapestic rehash of "the purist"
February 7, 2023
FEB 7, at heart: hypertension
February 6, 2023
FEB 6, objectionable adjectives: histonomical
The role of histonomy, if any, as well as that of its adjectival derivatives, is considerably less certain.
You can review our editorially selected doggerel (eight verses) relating to 'Objectionable Adjectives' by clicking HERE.
February 5, 2023
FEB 5, higher connections: wannabe autocrat
February 4, 2023
FEB 4, (re)duplication: hubba-hubba
rubba: rubber (American slang for condom), with typical non-rhotic pronunciation
February 3, 2023
FEB 3, Carolina lowcountry: unusual wildlife
reprise from February (leap year) 2020:
FEB 29, Carolina lowcountry: unusual wildlife
February 2, 2023
FEB 2, palinku (poetic novelty): drinks
(Ed. note:) Verses of this ilk have continued to accumulate. You can view them all at one swoop if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.
February 1, 2023
FEB 1, spineless verse (invertebrates): geohelminths
January 31, 2023
JAN 31, doctors and their practices: neighbourhood analyst (capsaicin)
January 30, 2023
January 29, 2023
JAN 29, signs of confusion: second collection
This post is the second in a series of 5. You can attempt to get all of this straight by reviewing the collection in the previous post of November 15, 2022 :
toplessness? |
as a child, I believed that 'Pickering' was an abbreviation for 'pickled herring'. I guess I was wrong |
This post is the second in a series of 5. You can push onwards and review the collections in these subsequent posts ...
January 28, 2023
JAN 28, Canadiana: western Canadian funky towns
a) reprise from January 28, 2020
January 27, 2023
JAN 27, cinematic guide: George Formby's films and songs
In his films, Formby portrayed a good-natured but incompetent little man from rural county Lancaster, with songs interspersed throughout in which Formby, his character "laced with shy ordinariness", sings while accompanying himself adroitly on ukulele or banjo. Apparently, the Beatles, particularly George Harrison, were among the musicians influenced by Formby's performances.
January 26, 2023
JAN 26, (ecto)-parasites: host
January 25, 2023
JAN 25, national and multinational verse: Iceland
You can review our collection of verses about various individual nations, and about the groupings to which they belong, on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.
January 24, 2023
JAN 24, new world palindromes (#3,#4)
a) reprise from January 2020
JAN 24, wordplay maps: new world palindromes(#3,#4)
You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE!
January 23, 2023
JAN 23, braincheck: homonomous hemianop(s)ia
You can check your knowledge of brain structure and function in health and disease by reviewing our entire collection of illustrated verses on this topic. To review 'BRAINCHECK' on topic-oriented blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE.
January 22, 2023
JAN 22, poets' corner: noun-verb contractions
Authors' Note: In the above limerick verse, seven noun-verb contractions, each characteristically joining its two elements (a pronoun or noun, and a verb) with an apostrophe, are italicized in blue. But, don't be misled: other types of contractions also use the apostrophe, and these are flagged in red font. Aren't is of course a negative contraction, and one's is a possessive form.
You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the listing "Poets' Corner". Click HERE.